The Personality and Values Questionnaire (PVQ) builds on the theory and research underlying the Fifteen Factor Questionnaire Plus (15FQ+) and also addresses an individual’s core values. A relatively new assessment in South Africa, it has shown robust psychometric properties and is an efficient instrument, enabling reliable measurement with a relatively small number of items. As it measures so many dimensions, it is extremely versatile, and yields a range of reports to address the most important questions and applications, when one is assessing for selection or for development purposes. The results spreadsheets give a useful summary and comparison of results across candidate’s and the PVQ (similarly to the 15FQ+ and OPPro), offers the ability to match a respondent to an ideal profile.

South African research on the PVQ is proceeding, however initial research on a substantial sample of respondents from Southern Africa has shown acceptable reliabilities and a norm of over 560 persons has been added to the PVQ South African norm, currently available on the GeneSys Online assessment system thus far.

Using the PVQ while evidence is being collected:

• Use the PVQ where it will add value, not simply because it is new. The wide selection of reports available for the PVQ give a wealth of information. Find example reports for the PVQ here.
• Use it in the context of a full assessment battery, and don’t rely on a new test as the only source of information for personality until you are fully familiar with it.
• Be sure to include a verification interview in the assessment process. You can use the Question Prompts report or any of the development reports as sources of questions for your verification interview.